Oscar Pistorius bail decision: Magistrate Desmond Nair is in the process of making a decision about granting Oscar Pistorius bail in the murder of Reeva Steenkamp. He said “bail can only be granted if he is convinced the defendant meets three criteria – he will not flee the jurisdiction; he will not try to intimidate witnesses; he is not himself a dangerous person,” BBC reports.

OSCAR PISTORIUS GRANTED BAIL BY MAGISTRATE DESMOND NAIR

I don’t think anyone expected Oscar Pistorius not to be granted bail, considering that the state did not prove its case why he should be kept behind bars. This is a throwback to the O.J. Simpson case in which Mark Fuhrman and others bungled the investigation.

After four days of combative hearings, a South African magistrate on Friday granted bail for Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee track star accused of murdering his girlfriend, in a case that has horrified and fascinated the nation and much of the world.

The magistrate said Mr. Pistorius did not represent a flight risk and was not likely to interfere with state witnesses. “The accused has made a case to be released on bail,” he concluded, while the prosecution had not established a case for detaining him. Pistorius family members in the packed courtroom shouted, “Yes!”

Magistrate Nair set bail at 1 million rand, about $112,000, and ordered a series of conditions before the case was adjourned to June 4. Mr. Pistorius was told to relinquish firearms and passports and to avoid his upscale home in a gated community where he shot to death his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in what he has called an accident and prosecutors have called premeditated murder. The home is now a crime scene.

The unusually tight restrictions on Mr. Pistorius also included a prohibition on making contact with witnesses. The athlete was further told that he could not leave the Pretoria area without official permission and could not use drugs or alcohol while the trial is pending. He was instructed to report to a police station twice a week. Source

The only thing I found disturbing was the celebrating in the court by members of Oscar Pistorius’ family. Reeva Steenkamp was murdered and there is nothing to celebrate. That was in poor taste and insensitive on their part. He may be free now, but there is a court case looming and no matter what the outcome, Oscar Pistorius will always be remembered as the man who killed Reeva Steenkamp. That’s a sentence he isn’t likely to escape, no matter how the magistrate rules in the trial.